There are many different kinds of people who use long distance calling cards these days, from frequent travelers to businesspeople to students to U.S. residents with family members in foreign lands. Using a prepaid phone card is convenient and affordable since you only pay for the minutes you use rather than being locked into a contract and forced to pay monthly bills. A phone card can be used from any location and on any type of phone, and since they can be purchased in so many locations or over the Internet, anyone can get them.

Long distance calling cards are preferable for people who do not have home phones with long distance plans, as well as people who make a lot of international calls when they are away from home. It is important to find the phone card that is right for your specific needs since they are not all exactly the same. While a phone card will almost always charge lower rates than a telephone company's standard international rates, they do not all charge the same rates as one another. The fees for overseas calls also vary dramatically based on which country you are calling. Calls to Argentina might cost 0.7 cents per minute while calls to India may cost 2.8 cents per minute, for example.

Once you have a prepaid phone card from a reputable company things are pretty simple. The card should have a toll free number on it for you to call, as well as a PIN number that you can use to access your account and start making calls through the prepaid system. Long distance calling cards with PIN-less calling access are also available, so you can just dial the numbers and be immediately connected.

There are numerous phone card issuers that range from major telephone service providers to credit card companies to small start-ups. These cards can be purchased in denominations ranging from $10 to $250, and they are more convenient than ever now that you can get them online.